First Tests

Well this week I will have my first major tests and paper of this semester. I have been watching alot of sports lately and sports analysts always love to mention how a team is going to face their first major test of the season when they play a good team. So it's time to face my first major test.

Anyhow, besides tests and lots of sports watching, school has been pretty fun. Our stake had a dance a couple weeks ago and I am glad I rode in my roomates jeep, because it started to snow like crazy and we had to go up a steep hill to get to the dance. Lots of cars were sliding off the road when the dance ended. I am pretty sure the Civic would have had the same fate.

Well looking back on the last decade I believe the thing I loved most was the iPhone. I received one when I got back from my mission and it has made my life very convenient. It is email, internet, phone, music, games, maps, books, scriptures, all in your hand. I guess the only knock on it is it can't quite do everything a computer can do which really is not a big deal. Well we will see what this decade has in store.

More Peru

The mountain view is one of the vista from Kuelap the other ones are of the hike to Gocta Falls. A local farmer let us ride some of his donkeys part of the way which was a real blast.

Peru Pictures

This is Trujillo and surfing I will try to get Dave's pictures of paragliding soon.

Peru Trip

So I am finally posting about Peru. I waited so long to build the anticipation of an excellent post! Yeah!

Quick run through. We spent a couple days in Lima shopping, checking out a couple museums, going to the Temple, and paragliding.

Then we went to the north in Trujillo which was amazing. Old colonial style architecture, really cool ruins and surfing in Huancayo which was amazing.

After we went to Chachapoyas which is the middle of the jungle, crazy windy roads through the Andes and then wet humid life on the other side. We saw some old inca ruins, and the amazing Gocta waterfalls (supposively the third highest after Angel and Victoria falls). It was definitely a highlight.

After we backtracked towards Lima going to Huaraz. We did a spectacular 4 day trek in the Andean range. We only got up to about 4,800 meters above sea level so it was not super high but the views were spectacular. I also liked it because in some parts you actually walk through realy mountain villages where people actually live, work etc. which is something you don't usually get in Europe and you definitely don't get in North America. This was amazing and seeing the stars at night it was great.

After Huaraz we did the more common touristy spots like the Nazca Lines. We also had stops in Arequipa where we had amazing food, saw cool museums and participated in the spectacular 457th anniversary of the city where it was basically I giant parade where the whole city partied for about 24 hours non-stop. After that we went to Cusco spent a couple days there and then did another 4 day hiking, back packing trek into Machu Picchu (which I heard got damaged from an earthquake recently so I guess we went at the right time). The trip was amazing. South American hospitality and prices make it a great place to visit. We had amazing food and amazing adventures for very cheap and Peru really is an amazing country. I will try to add some pictures above for you guys to check out. Sadly, my camera broke so I have to rely on Eddie and Dave's pictures

Hockey Day in Canada

Following on from Char's post, I think it's fitting that Oliver's first experience playing hockey happened to be on what CBC calls, for all those Americans in the family who may not know, hockey day in Canada. I think it started only a few years ago where the NHL schedules all 6 Canadian teams playing in one day. CBC broadcasts all the games and has special programmes running throughout the day about how hockey is celebrated in Canada.

For no particular reason (ie we didn't even know it was hockey day in Canada earlier) Char, Oliver and I all decided to go skating today at a nearby rink and like good dedicated outdoor hockey people, shovelled the snow off the rink before we skated on it. We weren;t really sure how Oliver would respond to hockey given our failures in trying to get into football / soccer at all in the UK (Nana and Grampa will remember him making them pass the ball to each other while he sat comfortably on the sidelines and was a good spectator last time they visited us in Aberdeen) but we were pleasantly surprised how intent he was on getting the puck in the net once he realised that was the object of the game. When we tried to convince him to go get some hot chocolate after he had been shooting the puck in the net over and over for a half hour he only replied with, "maybe later" and kept shooting for at least another half hour. So with the influence of other kids and families out skating on hockey day in Canada it looks as though we just may have one more family member who will be hooked on a great tradition for years to come.

I AM CANADIAN

I should have brought the camera I know that now. Today Jordan, Oliver and I got all bundled up and headed for the Rocky Mountain House outdoor skating rink. Oliver LOVED it. We didn't put skates on the lad but he shuffled around on the ice with boots taking turns scoring goals with Dado, who was on skates, who was amazing to Oliver. He was so excited he kept shouting for me to come and watch him hit the puck into the net with a really big hockey stick. So proud of himself he said "I'm a hockey player."

I said "Oh, you're a hockey player AND a footballer?"

"No, I'm a hockey player."

Too bad, I was kind of hoping to be a soccer mom rather than a hockey mom but oh well.

I think having had a good skate on an outdoor rink means we are once again proper Canadians. We not only had a clear view of a Tim Hortons from the ice but I also skated past one lady who brought her stroller onto the ice with her wee one in it as she skated behind it. It's good to be back.

ON OUR WAY HOME - BACK TO THE BASICS

Hi Gang,

I meant to write about this earlier, but it has been a crazy week. We had a fantastic Sacrament meeting last week at MI. The theme was on the importance of having the Spirit with us at all times by doing the basics -

prayer and scripture study. It was a theme that we had all heard many times before - in fact, one of the speakers who had been a member for 10 years mentioned that he had heard this theme at least once a month for all ten years.

However, it is one of the most powerful things we can do to show our devotion to Heavenly Father, his plan, and the Savior. It is an indicator of our dedication and commitment to worship and to maintaining a connection to Heavenly Father in our present mortal state.

Prayer and scripture study are two of the simple things out of which comes that which is great. That is the genius and power of the gospel - it takes the small and simple things of the earth and creates that which is great.

One of the youth speakers, who is a great football player, told a story about life adapted from his football coach. He felt that there were two dogs inside him, a good dog and a mean dog. The one that dominated was the one he fed the most.

Similarly, we have a physical side and a spiritual side. We need to feed good food to our physical bodies to keep them healthy; but we also need to feed our spiritual bodies to keep them healthy.

I know that if we, as a family, commit ourselves to focused daily prayer and scripture study we will be greatly blessed.

Luv to all,

Gramps

The Brick Oven

Melissa got me a really cool cookbook for Christmas. Its called JAMIE AT HOME by Jamie Oliver. The portion I've become infatuated with is the pizza section. Jamie had a brick oven built in his backyard (I've included a photo for reference) and he raves about the difference its made in his pizzas. While he claims you can get "similar" (read, not as good) results, I just can't get the brick oven out of my head. The book's influence has seeped into our ramped up attempts to purchase a house here in Los Angeles. So I'm now officially OBSESSED with the idea of building one in our new backyard. Just hope the backyard ends up being big enough!

memorable journey

We finally made our historic journey back to N America only a couple of weeks ago. It was memorable journey in many ways some good, some bad ... after spending what seemed like 48 hrs of non-stop packing, invitations and goodbyes we both breathed a huge sigh of relief when we made our connecting flight and checked in at our hotel in Amsterdam at midnight. And why the sigh of relief at midnight when we were supposed to arrive at 7 and enjoy an evening swim in the hotel pool? Mainly due to horrible weather in both Aberdeen and Amsterdam (it was a miracle our flight wasn't cancelled to begin with), a small mountain of luggage that was nearly impossible to manage with only the 2 of us plus the two kids, a poorly Oliver, ill with the flu although he was a very good trooper for the entire trip.

After managing only a few hours of sleep, amassing our mountain of luggage again and missing out on our favourite fast food spot on the continent, Febo (anyone who will travel to Amsterdam in the future will need to check it out), we miraculously made our next flight and had our second huge sigh of relief when we eventually met up with Nana at the airport. So a new chapter begins for us and although sad to leave the UK we are also glad to be back home.

Yorkshire Pudding

FACTS:
-Yorkshire pudding emerged in Northern England
-The recipe for Yorkshire pudding was first published in the book 'The Whole Duty of a Woman,' in 1737
-my friend who served in England says people always complain that it never turns out the same way twice
-it's really great with gravy
- I made it this Sunday for our 'thanks for helping us move' dinner party
-The recipe is : 4 beaten eggs, 2 cups milk, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 cups flour, mix it up and then add it to smoking hot lard or drippings measuring one teaspoon in each muffin tin section. Cook at 450 for 20 minutes. It gets so big and puffy
-Mom used to make it every Sunday for dinner along with her delicious roast
-I think we should add it to 'The Schneider's Bestest Recipes'
-opinions?

Happy Birthday Jordan!!

My husband is a poet. My husband does not write poems. Let me explain.

"So the tragic poet, if his art is representation, is by nature at third remove from the throne of truth; and the same is true of all other representative artists...Suppose, then, a man could produce both the original and the copy. Do you think he would seriously want to devote himself to the manufacture of copies and make it the highest object in life?"

Jordan produces the original. Jordan lives poetically. Jordan's life this past year has been full of the highest of poetic themes: courage, bravery, persistance, hard work, imagination, risk taking, love, sacrifice, spirituality, adventure and family.

Once upon a time there was a man named Jordan who was SO big and SO strong.

One day he:

heard his wife was upset

saw that Oliver needed some attention

was asked to serve as Ward clerk without an assistant

had to qualify as a CA

saw that his flat needed some fixing up

felt it was important to keep up his exercise

knew that he had to bring home the bacon

felt that it was time to make an addition to the family

had to make a huge decision about whether or not to move back to Canada

had to make the decision about moving back to Canada happen

Well Jordan summed up all the courage and energy he could muster. He took a rope, tied up all the monsters of doubt, fatigue, worry, discouragement and he:

Helped his wife as much as he could, made her laugh, made her happy.

Scooped Oliver up after a long day at the office and wrestled with him on the bed. Everyday.

Accepted the call as ward clerk and gave up almost all of Sunday, every Sunday to go to his early morning meetings, attend church and then stay late to count tithing - without an assistant.

Boldly dove into an accounting career without an accounting background and QUALIFIED!!!

Laid flooring in both bedrooms and varnished the living room several times.

Biked to work at least twice a week, ran on week-ends and occasionally played evening soccer

Worked hard everyday

Welcomed little Ben into our family

Prayed and fasted about staying in the UK vs moving back, researched, researched, researched.

Secured a job with EY Edmonton

Then some sharks came, ate up all the monsters of doubt, fatigue, worry, discouragement of doubt, fatigue, worry, discouragement and went "ha, ha, ha".

THE END.

Sweatin' with the Oldies

I went to an aquacise class this morning and I really loved it. The class was pretty much a bunch of elderly women and myself. I was reminded this morning how much I enjoy old women. I love them. I love how they all made me feel like I was Jane Fonda with comments like: "My, your legs are strong." "Isn't she jumping out of the water high." "I could tell you were working really hard." It was also pretty fun having old lady chat in the hot tub afterwards. Old women are just so pleasant. You don't have to worry about saying anything clever, current or wildly interesting because some of them can't hear that well anyways and most of them just seem very content to appreciate the small and simple things in life with you. Sister Hinckley once said "At fifty I stopped competing and started living." Years ago I used to go lane swimming quite regularly and my lane swim was always at the same time as an aquacise class. Same demographic - elderly women. During one class I overheard one of the women announcing that she had brought pie to eat afterwards. Isn't that so funny!!! Who eats pie right after an exercise class?? I'm looking forward to the next session.

Video of Caleb and Julian's Joy School Christmas Program

I was trying all last month to get this video posted and I'm sorry I didn't get it up here sooner! It would have been really fun to see it and compare with the Joy School program that you all watched when you looked at the old family videos. But, better late then never and I'm glad I didn't stop trying on it. Here ya go:

Blow Torch Roast

I just wanted to write an addendum to Ian's post about the blow torch meat- it was amazing!! I definitely couldn't get enough. Here are some photos. We should try it when we get together next time.
One of the things that I've discovered over this past decade is cooking. Ian loves to cook and get creative with what he does. I've adopted some of the same techniques, discovering that it doesn't have to take a lot of time, I just need to use some flavors and good ingredients. This year we're going to try to plant a little garden at a friends' house, as Ian mentioned. We got inspired after watching a video about some people in Utah who spontaneously decided to do a community garden. We don't have yard space, and our friends just had a baby so they don't have a ton of time, but maybe together we can put the big patch of dirt to some use. We'll see what the year brings.

What I like about the 00s

There's way too many things I want to post about holiday happenings - walking the island in pajamas on Christmas Day, playing vampire on the Olympic, dark dining with the Whites, watching Rico's and Rach's hoe down on Christmas Eve, jiving with OJ at Salty's, listening to Linds' Christmas present, being blown away by Beej's running abilities, welcoming the Schneiders back to the continent, tea partying with little Oliver and .....just couldn't choose.

So after reading about Char's and Lindsay's favorite things from the last decade, I thought I'd talk about one of mine.

It's skype. I first heard about it from Jordan a few years ago. I didn't think I'd like feeling obligated to brush my hair before I talked to someone, but I've since changed my mind. It's amazing that I can read to Caleb and Julian when they live a few hundred miles away. And see new-born Ben in Scotland and Woozie's new roommate and Rico's storage ideas for his room in Utah. (Inside joke with Rico:)

For our family especially, I think it's great. If you can't live next door to each other, then skype is the next best thing. It's a wonderful way to feel connected. I love it.

Blowtorch Prime Rib

Sorry for the food posts, but I thought this was worth sharing. I decided to move away from poultry and ham for Christmas dinner this year and focus in on some good red meat.

The highlight was starting with a blowtorch. I've included a video to give you an idea of the process. It was great fun!

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Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes

We got some really fantastic tomatoes last year in our weekly produce box. We made some killer pasta sauce with them (among other things). This year, Melissa and I are planting a small garden in a friend's yard. I went a little crazy and ordered 7 different heirloom tomato plants. Probably should have cut down the list a bit, but they all looked so delicious. They included:



Summer Cider



Green Giant



Paul Robeson



and Black Krim

Hopefully they'll be productive enough that we can jar plenty of sauce and fruit for everyone! I'll keep you posted.

Goodbye, first decade of the millenium!

I feel very lucky to have such an awesome family. The holidays this year were amazing - seeing everyone in Seattle and then getting bonus time with Dad and Beej here in Edmonton as well as visiting G&G, cousins, Aunt Di and Uncle Hu... What a riot! In response to Rico's prompt for this month, and in thinking about the fam, one thing that stands out for me from the past decade was our reunion in Palm Springs in 2006. It was the first time we were all together for a while, and the first time we gathered once more with little ones. That was such a blast! Dad and I were talking about the lovely family pics we got at that reunion, with the desert landscape. We thought it would be fun to snap family pics with the landscape of wherever it is we meet for our reunions!!!

New Semester

I'm pretty excited about my classes this semester. Although they'll be difficult and require a lot of work, I'm hoping after this I'll be able to really decide if I'm going to major in science and go on to apply for med school. At this point, I'm pretty sure I want to. But I'm taking an Intro to Health Professions seminar class to take a look at all the health professions available and really try to test out if it's right for me.
There is one class that I'm particularly interested in. It is Human Anatomy. Although it is not a class required for entrance to med school, it is recommended and it's also required for my current declared major, which is Physiology and Developmental Biology. The main thing I'm excited for is my lab, where I will get to dissect human cadavers. I'm a little nervous too but I think it'll be really interesting. We won't be working on them for the first couple labs, but this will be me in a few weeks!